Anyone seen the new Anna Karenina movie? Anyone reading the
old Anna Karenina book before seeing the movie? Since I was a teenager the last
time I read it, I thought I needed a refresher, so I suggested it to my Navy
Spouses book club for our March book. I
started it a couple weeks ago, and am only about 200 pages in. At first I was
caught up in the romance of Anna and Vronsky’s relationship. (Is it funny that
both the men in Anna’s life are Alexey? Or is it just that common of a name?) Although
Vronsky isn’t likable, Anna appears to be at the beginning. She’s so sensible
with her sister-in-law Dolly, suffering from her husband’s betrayal. And she
wisely runs away when she realizes she’s attracted Vronsky’s attention away
from Kitty. But just when Tolstoy has
you feeling like one of the Petersburg biddies wondering how their relationship
is going to be consummated, he cuts short your curiosity by telling you it is
consummated, and Anna feels terrible about it. Do you think he cut out a big
chunk of the romance when he was revising? Is it to prove how anti-climactic
(double-entendre intended?) the actual deed is compared to what they’ve
constructed in their imagination? It’s almost like he got tired of writing
about their anticipation and wanted to skip to their misery.
Now I can’t decide if I want to read 700 pages about how
disappointed in themselves they are. It is lovely to read passages like:
“If Levin had felt
happy before in the cattlepens and farmyard, he felt happier yet in the open
country. Swaying rhythmically with the ambling paces of his good little cob,
drinking in the warm yet fresh scent of the snow and the air, as he rode
through his forest over the crumbling, wasted snow, still left in parts, and
covered with dissolving tracks, he rejoiced over every tree, with the moss reviving
on its bark and the buds swelling on its shoots.”
or “Although her dress, her coiffure, and all the
preparations for the ball had cost Kitty great trouble and consideration, at
this moment she walked into the ballroom in her elaborate tulle dress over a
pink slip as easily and simply as though all the rosettes and lace, all the
minute details of her attire, had not cost her family a moment’s attention, as
though she had been born in that tulle and lace, with her hair done up high on
her head, and a rose and two leaves on the top of it.”
but I’m debating if I want to read about handwringing and
psychological torment for six weeks. Betty pointed out the similarity with The
Master of Hestviken in which Olaf commits his great sin in the first tenth of
the book and spends the rest of the series avoiding going to confession. After
the depressing episode of Downton Abbey, I might need a little levity in my
life. Should I persevere? I’m going to be surprised if anyone in my book club
gets much past the great fall. But they'll probably see the movie if it comes here. (Is Keira Knightly too slight to be Anna? I picture her more buxom.)
4 comments:
One thing I think the movie did quite well was set up the tension between Vronsky and Anna right before their fall, the way they kept running into each other at parties, and how they were sort of egged on by Princess Betsy (who i thought was pretty well cast). There's all this torment about running into each other, and these heavy glances across the room, and increasingly imprudent behavior towards each other, until finally vronsky asks if she wants him to leave, and her telling him no is the answer that things WILL be consummated. THe actual consummation in the movie, as one might guess, was far less delicate than in the book, with Anna repeating "Murderer!" in a suspiciously rhythmic fashion. I liked the axe murderer in the book, hacking her to pieces with each kiss, much better.
I'm in for Anna Karenina, very happily. I won't see the movie because I think Keira Knightley horribly miscast. Anna is a happy mother; it's the loveliest aspect of her, and I don't think Keira could show that, yet.
I just read the part about Dolly arriving in the country with her 6 kids - my favorite part yet. Love the way she both delights and despairs about her offspring - catching them secretly sharing a tart, admiring their healthy naked bodies in the river bathing, breaking up their fighting and biting in the nursery later. Levin, of course, is still thick in the head about Kitty, but he admires Dolly's happiness in maternity.
I just found your blog and I love it! I saw the movie with my 22 year old daughter and we LOVED IT. In fact, as the lights came up we looked at each other and said we liked AK better than Les Miserables. Which says a lot.
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